My first response was; that as a personal trainer and massage therapist, I am not licensed to make such recommendations

second; the injury is a result of a muscular imbalance and soft tissue work would reduce the discomfort but the “strain” would flare up again at some point but unless her daughter performed the recommended core stabilization exercise regularly (4-6 times per week) it is only a short term fix

third; if you wanted to try something for pain and inflammation to temporarily help get through an injury, then one of the best products I have used is the FAST Patch from Wei Laboratories (www.weilab.com 1.888.919.1188). this homeopathic treatment has worked wonders for my with muscular strains and liagemtous sprains in the past.

Muscular imbalances are very often the source of injuries in the athletes that I see, especially the tennis players where they have spent years swinging a long racket around with mostly one side of their body doing a big percentage of the work.

Using a long lever like a tennis racket an create significant asymmetries if flexibility and core stability work are not kept up with. Can you see in the picture below how that might lead to pain in the hip, low back, shoulder or elsewhere?

Granted these are pictures of structural scoliosis, but a functional scoliosis an be created by muscular imbalances just the same.

I am taking my daughter to a Father Daughter Dinner Dance for her Girl Scout troop and I need to go get ready!

Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

Eric Beard
Athletic Performance Enhancement Specialist
Corrective Exercise Specialist
theericbeard.blogspot.com
www.ericbeard.com

• March 16, 2009 -- What’s Wrong With This Core Training Picture? A Corrective Exercise Specialist Knows (0)
• March 18, 2009 -- "Orthopedic Surgeons and Shoulder Injuries: Can the Rotator Cuff be Saved with Corrective Exercise and Improved Tennis Technique?" (0)
• March 12, 2009 -- Standard Protocol for Rehabilitating Rotator Cuff Tendinitis: What About An Integrated Assessment and Corrective Exercise? (0)
• March 23, 2009 -- Shoulder Injuries Waiting to Happen; Corrective Exercise vs. Rehabilitation (0)
• March 19, 2009 -- Tennis Players: It Doesn’t Matter "How You Slice It" Corrective Exercise Before a Problem is Better Than After One! (1)